Yeah, the same hippies that chant this bullshit are the same ones that would love another stimulus program that piles a bunch of debt on the same kids.

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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronís cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

So are there any numbers on retention for other vehicles? 1 in three repeat customers doesn't sound too terrible to me. And how can you tell if people change because they need different vehicles (vans for growing families, etc) rather than just despising their crappy hybrid?

The Polk automotive research firm says that Ford's loyalty rating -- a measure of owners who purchase or lease a vehicle of the same model or make -- jumped to 63.1 percent in 2010, passing General Motors (59.9 percent) and Toyota (58.8 percent) for the top spot in the study.

How much do used Hybrid vehicles sell for compared to a similar vehicle with the same engine, HP, features etc. Convenience ALONE turns me away from these KY Vehicles (and I'm not talking about Kentucky). If US car manufacturers and the US Government truly believed in the environment they would subsidize the shit outta these vehicles. But instead, they just left it to a few suckers who wanted to look cool with a HYBRID emblem on their car. Which is fine with me. I can't solve the Adult Retard problem in the US at the moment. All I can do is watch. And clap.

How much do used Hybrid vehicles sell for compared to a similar vehicle with the same engine, HP, features etc. Convenience ALONE turns me away from these KY Vehicles (and I'm not talking about Kentucky). If US car manufacturers and the US Government truly believed in the environment they would subsidize the shit outta these vehicles. But instead, they just left it to a few suckers who wanted to look cool with a HYBRID emblem on their car. Which is fine with me. I can't solve the Adult Retard problem in the US at the moment. All I can do is watch. And clap.

I've always felt they were designed to fail. High price, questionable impact, odd looking. This way they can throw up their hands in failure and start advertising the 6000 SUX again.

I looked at a hybrid Porsche today. It cost a couple thousand more than the gas-only version and had about 10% more horsepower, a decent tradeoff for the slight increase in price. Mileage figures were about 10% greater as well. Is there any reason to go or not go with a hybrid?

Look for more small diesels to hit the US streets in the next year or so. Chevy has announced a Cruze turbo-D and Mazda will be offering a Skyactiv-D for the Maza3. Technically the Mazda is more interesting, but I'm curious to see how the Cruze TD compares to the Eco model in terms of efficiency and pricing.

I hope so. My diesel VW Rabbit I had as a teenager got 50mpg easily. I'd buy a similar car in an instant. Unfortunately current VW offerings are not similar.

A few years ago Honda was going to bring the diesel Civic to the states but that fell through.

Just make sure you drive something other than a truck, because they are checking those damn hard these days.

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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronís cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

So are there any numbers on retention for other vehicles? 1 in three repeat customers doesn't sound too terrible to me. And how can you tell if people change because they need different vehicles (vans for growing families, etc) rather than just despising their crappy hybrid?

I had wondered about that as well, and figured even if it were even, we weren't talking about buy the same hybrid again, but any hybrid, which opens it up to several other types of vehicles as well.

I'm not opposed to one, but I don't think the costs justify it. And not just the time to pay back the added expense of the hybrid, but the cost of replacing batteries scares the hell out of me.

__________________
Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronís cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

So are there any numbers on retention for other vehicles? 1 in three repeat customers doesn't sound too terrible to me. And how can you tell if people change because they need different vehicles (vans for growing families, etc) rather than just despising their crappy hybrid?

__________________
Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronís cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

Unicorn farts are the future and we must subsidize them. If we do, they will emerge.

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Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baronís cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C.S. Lewis

Interestingly enough while Europe has been leading the way with Diesel's there's a move to go back to Petrol power. Some fantastic engines are on the way with 50-60mpg.

Here's the problem: Euro6 emissions certificiation, which comes into force in 2014. Euro6 is just as stringent as EPA Tier 2 Bin 5 certification, and that makes cleaning up diesel exhaust very expensive to do (look at how much the BlueTec system adds to the cost of a Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel car). Small wonder why Europeans have suddenly expressed an interest in hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) drivetrains.

Here's the problem: Euro6 emissions certificiation, which comes into force in 2014. Euro6 is just as stringent as EPA Tier 2 Bin 5 certification, and that makes cleaning up diesel exhaust very expensive to do (look at how much the BlueTec system adds to the cost of a Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel car). Small wonder why Europeans have suddenly expressed an interest in hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) drivetrains.

That's one reason I said Mazda's Skyactiv-D will be technologically interesting. By lowering the compression they say they can meet euro6 using filtration alone, without the need for an after-treatment system.